The forest cableways used up to the present day spend kinetic and potential energy of load on thermal energy in service brakes of driving drums when being yarded with the help of a skyline down the hill. Service brakes are usually constructed as drum, disc and band ones. They get warm and are worn intensively when working, therefore the retarding braking system is used, too. The retarding braking system is mostly implemented as an aerodynamic or electric one on the basis of eddy current.
The solution according to an inventor prof. Roska is also known—it is solution No. 261066, 1988, B 61 B 7/00 named “Cablecrane Supplement for Wood Extraction”. This is device which enables to use an excess energy of load to pull another load under a skyline in overlapping time.
In the area of recuperative cableway systems, there is also known the solution according to the invention No. 286944 named “Recuperative Cableway System for Logging”. This cableway system for logging consists of an electric drive unit with recuperation of energy by means of a rotary voltage generator.
Next, there is a known solution according to the patent No. 287413 named “Thermoelectric Recuperative Cableway System”. It is a recuperative cableway system with an electric or hybrid drive using thermoelectric cells in the brake system of a winding device to recover energy.
Then, there is a solution according to the patent No. 287411 named “Hydraulic Recuperative Cableway System”. It is a recuperative cableway system with a hydraulic drive using a hydraulic accumulator to recover energy.
Then, there is a solution according to the patent No. 287412 named “Pneumatic Recuperative Cableway System”. It is a recuperative cableway system using a pneumatic accumulator to recover energy.
Next known solution is according to the patent No. 287441 named “Mechanical Recuperative Cableway System with a Flywheel”. It is a recuperative cableway system using a flywheeel energy accumulator.
These recuperative cableway systems don't use fuel cells to recover gravitational energy of the carriage and load. The principles which are used to recover energy of carriage and load in the phase of gravitational skidding, are characterized by lower efficiency of energy transformation, lower performance, or higher construction complexity.